There’s been a lot of discussion about how the definition of “competence” for lawyers also includes the duty to keep up with applicable technologies.

Talk can be cheap, but the good news is that doing something about learning about applicable technologies lawyers can be an inexpensive proposition, at least in the St. Louis, Missouri area.

Exhibit A on this topic is the Missouri Bar’s Lex Port 2015, which takes place on October 26 – 27 this year. Early bird pricing of $259 for up to 12.2 tech-focused CLE hours and up to 4.2 hours of ethics CLE. In Missouri, that will satisfy your ethics CLE requirement for two years.

There looks to be a ton of great sessions with some nationally-known speakers. Here’s the program brochure.

I’ve already turned in my handout materials – early. Just something for program planners to keep in mind about me.

I’ll be doing three presentations:

Taking LinkedIn to the Next Level

(more important now than ever)

Technical Competence and the Rules of Professional Conduct

(for Ethics CLE credit – a new presentation and a new approach to the topic from me)

I’ve had quite a few articles, podcasts and other things appear over the last few months, but not on this blog. It seemed like a good time to catch up and point to some of those. Tom Mighell and I have continued a good run of episodes on The Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast. Recent ones include:

The summer reading episode brought us one of my favorite responses ever. A listener told us that listening to the podcast actually got him to start reading books again.

Tom and I love doing the podcast, are grateful to our listeners, and, as always, welcome your suggestions for show topics and other feedback.

I believe that I’m now officially allowed to announce that I’ll be the chair of the board for the ABA’s Legal Technology Resource Center for the next year. Watch that space – there should be some exciting developments. As just one example, check out a new monthly roundtable series on the Law Technology Today blog that will feature LTRC board members discussing timely legal tech topics.

The first is already up: Five Questions on Artificial Intelligence. It was sort of funny that it wasn’t my insights into AI that got attention, but my line that “The Wikipedia entry for ‘artificial intelligence’ will make you wish you had an AI tool to interpret the entry.” that got picked up in other articles.

Somewhat dissatisified with the pace of my posting on this blog, my blog is also trying to tweet more links to interesting things on it’s personal Twitter account: @dkennedyblog.

For those who like my #bikeride and other personal tweets, there’s always @denniskennedy on Twitter. I’m trying to do more retweeting through that account as an experiment. Stay tuned there for upcoming news about a new bike for me.

If you are a regular reader of this blog and would like to connect on LinkedIn, I’d be happy to connect. Just mention that you are a reader in your invitation to connect.

2015 has also been a big international travel year for me – Austria, Switzerland, France, Israel and Greece, with Singapore on the agenda for later this year. Hence, the word “everywhere” in the title of this post.

I had been seeing a lot of blog posts, articles, tweets and other mentions of AI, IBM Watson, machine learning and the like. I wanted to talk about it on the podcast. I had to convince Tom that we had something to add to the conversation. As usual, he did’t think he’d have much to say. And, as usual, when he says that, we have some of our longer episodes.

In a way, it was a perfect topic. I like topics where I can push Tom to react to some of my wildest ideas and we both start to see practical opportunities. This episode will also be known by us as the one where I left Tom speechless with one of my ideas.

There’s some interesting stuff in this podcast and I encourage you to listen to it and to subscribe to the podcast.

Here’s the show summary:

“Artificial Intelligence is a means of designing a system that can perceive its environment and take actions that will maximize its success.” -Tom Mighell

Developments in Big Data, machine learning, IBM Watson, and other advancements in technology have brought back the cyclical discussion of what artificial intelligence might mean for lawyers. Has anything really changed, or have we just reached another round of the AI debate?

In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell analyze recent discussions about artificial intelligence and lawyers, try to separate myth from reality, and ponder whether AI can take over the work of lawyers. Together, they discuss the definition of AI, robotics, Technology Assisted Review, driverless cars, document assembly software, LegalZoom and how lawyers are assisted or threatened by these technologies. Dennis points out that lawyers are often worried about computer system mistakes but comfortable with the lower success rate of humans. Tom aptly explains that comfort in certain technologies stems from psychological acceptance.

In the second half of the podcast, Dennis and Tom revisit traveling with technology. As Dennis was just in Europe, and Tom is headed there soon, they talk about wireless routers, mobile wifi, headphones, phone chargers, backpacks, and the other various technology necessities to bring on your vacation. As always, stay tuned for Parting Shots, that one tip, website, or observation you can use the second the podcast ends.

In the “B segment” of our next episode, which will be released soon, Tom and I revisited the topic of AI and Tom challenged me to come up with practical examples of the ways lawyers might use AI. I think even Tom will (grudgingly) admit that I won that challenge. Be sure to tune in to that episode.

No surprise – I had a great time, met lots of old and new friends, had some great conversations, saw some interesting new products, learned a few new things and had some new ideas and potential projects. And I got to spend a lot of time hanging out with the great people at the Legal Talk Network (you know who you are).

At the end, I counted up that I had done three presentations, co-hosted a podcast, guested on a podcast, was on the critic’s panel for an Appathon, went to a Chicago legal tech meetup, had some great dinners and even found time for a trip to the Chicago Art Institute to visit some of my favorite Brancusi sculptures. I certainly got my money’s worth of that trip to Chicago.

If you use the hashtag #ABATECHSHOW, you can still find lots of great links to resources, photos and more.

I presented on the 60 Sites in 60 Minutes panel this year (I played the role of the serious one) – a first for me – and the list of the 60 or so sites is posted here. The whole notion of “sites” is an interesting one – some of my selections played with whole notion of what a “site” was anymore and whether the term still made sense.

Dennis Kennedy

DennisKennedy.Blog was launched on February 15, 2003.

Dennis Kennedy is one of the few technology lawyers who is also an expert on the underlying technologies. Dennis an award-winning leader in the application of technology and the Internet to the practice of law.

This site gives you access to a wide variety of Dennis Kennedy's writings and information about how you can have Dennis speak to your organization or group.

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Dennis Kennedy is one of the most knowledgeable legal technologists you will find. - Michael Arkfeld.

Dennis Kennedy, a lawyer and legal technology expert in St. Louis, Mo., has been a significant influence in the ever-evolving relationship between lawyers and the Web. - Robert Ambrogi